Polls hide the truth about climate change

Canadians, like Americans and others living in developed
countries, always tell pollsters they are concerned about protecting
the environment. But this is like being asked if you are in favour
of apple pie and motherhood. Of course you are. But that's not the
point.

Canadians, like Americans and others living in developed countries, always tell pollsters they are concerned about protecting the environment. But this is like being asked if you are in favour of apple pie and motherhood. Of course you are. But that's not the point.

The real question that pollsters, and politicians, should put to the public is how big is your footprint and how much are you prepared to shrink it to protect the environment? The answer? Very little.

Another problem is that the media, and public and professional activists, are seizing on every twist and turn in the weather as another example of "global warming" or, to accommodate inclement cold fronts here and there, "global climate change."

The zealots, and ill-informed media, have found a new "lede" to get public attention for their cause. They would have us believe it's all about capitalism and fat cats and Big Oil. But it's not.

And here are the questions I would like pollsters to ask anyone who answers that they believe that protecting the environment should be a political priority.

- Would they support a ban on cars? Cars are the real enemy of the planet.

- Or a ban on incandescent bulbs? California is considering banning them because they use four times more energy than fluorescents.

- Would they support a limit of 250 square feet or less per person in terms of residential space? Would they support a high tax on those who exceed that amount? Small residences are axiomatic to reducing energy use.

- Would they move to live within walking distance of their work or school? Would they commit to using public transport only?

- Would they move to a residence with small windows that faces toward the sun for most of the day?

- Would they give up their job if necessary? Or eating meat? Or air conditioning? Or synthetic fabrics? Or have only one child or, better yet, none?

The point of this is that the polls are incomplete, which is leading, in the case of Canada, to potentially ruinous political action and attitudes.

There's also a lot of misinformation about the Kyoto Protocol itself and Canada's responsibilities.

Canada is only 2% of a worldwide problem. Canada has absolutely no obligation to do anything that others aren't doing. Canada is the only nation that signed on to do anything. The Europeans were virtually in compliance, the Australians negotiated an increase in emissions because their economy is energy- intensive like Canada's, and the Americans refused to sign because all the world's biggest polluters such as China, India or Latin America and Africa were exempted from doing anything.

Here are more facts surrounding Kyoto:

- Barely half of the countries expected to sign Kyoto did so.

- Kyoto would have expired if the Russians hadn't signed it, and they did because Europe threatened to nix their application to the World Trade Organization if they balked.

- Very few countries have met their targets and most don't intend to, especially if it affects the economy or costs jobs.

- India and China were exempt, yet China is producing more than 50% of the carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere. China is going to build up to 500 coal-burning plants in the next 10 years.

- The rest of the world has abandoned Kyoto while we continue to pursue it with legislation.

- The commitments are not enforceable by anyone, but if legislation is passed binding Ottawa to this silliness, then environmental activists here and abroad can sue Canadian taxpayers for non-compliance and Canada's industries out of existence.

That aside, I believe that global warming, or climate change, is not the problem. The world's woes are due to excessive population growth worldwide, which is at the root of everything from poverty to political unrest, ignorance and extremism, deforestation and all forms of pollution.

The solution to all of this rests with education and the abandonment of bans on birth control, be they religious edicts or political directives designed to increase power bases.

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